


Do you know what's worth fighting for?

by uwillbeefound



Series: Detroit: Evolution [24]
Category: Detroit Evolution - Fandom, Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Hurt and comfort, M/M, Whump, injured Nines, injured gavin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25560088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uwillbeefound/pseuds/uwillbeefound
Summary: DE artfest day 27: WhumpGavin's past comes back to haunt him when a familiar face reappears.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: Detroit: Evolution [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1702627
Comments: 1
Kudos: 59





	Do you know what's worth fighting for?

**Author's Note:**

> TW: talk of death, implied abuse, violence, guns, knifes, kidnapping, injury
> 
> Let me know if I've missed anything

Day 27: Whump 

Gavin looked at the name on the screen, his stomach turning. He never thought he would have to face that name, or person, again. He couldn’t look away as memories flashed through his mind. Some of them were good, at times they felt like family, at times it was the closest thing to a home. Then there were the other moment, the cries, the screams, smell of drugs, that faithful day and the cold that followed it.

“Gavin?” Nines concerned voice brought him back to the present. Gavin looked over, ignoring his shaking hand as he quickly controlled everything that was flooding back. “Are you alright? Something about the case?”

Gavin thought about insisting he was fine...but Nines knew him too well for that and if he didn’t bring it up now, he would bring it up later at home. “Peachy... I need a smoke.” Gavin quickly got up from his seat and moved straight outside, sitting on the bench with his head in his hands, shaking. 

Nines went to follow, stopping when he saw Tina follow. It might be best, despite Gavin and Nines relationship, Tina was better suited to this kind of thing. After all, she had known him the longest and other than Nines, she was one of the only people he let in. Instead, Nines moved to Gavin’s screen, looking at the name. 

The man was the usual suspect, charges around drugs and assault, nothing out of the ordinary for their line of work. Nines checked the date, nothing specific seemed to be happening today of note. Nines made notes of dates that were hard of Gavin, birthdays and Christmas being the main ones. It wasn’t winter either which caused memories to resurface. Nines searched for a few more seconds before leaving the desk, still no closer to an answer. 

“Excuse me, sir, do you have a moment?” Nines asked Fowler from the doorway. Fowler tended to know things the computers didn’t especially when it came to Gavin and sometimes other co-workers. Nines trusted Fowler to tell him what he needed to know, although he hoped Gavin wouldn’t see this as going behind his back. 

Fowler looked up, a little confused to why Nines was here. “Quickly, I have a meeting in ten minutes.” He replied, gesturing for Nines to sit down. Nines moved in and connected with a touchpoint on the desk, causing a file to come up on the screen.

“Do you know who this is? Gavin had an...unpleasant reaction to him. I would ask him, but he left quickly and didn’t seem to be in the mindset to answer questions.” Nines asked, taking in Fowler’s reaction to the name. 

“Shit.” Fowler leant back in his chair. “I think this case should be transferred.”

“Can I ask why?” Nines asked. So it was this person then, probably linked to Gavin’s less than legal past, someone who brings up enough made memories for Fowler to worry about Gavin. 

“Did Gavin tell you how he came here?” Fowler asked, obviously careful about giving away information that wasn’t exactly his to tell. 

“Yes, he was thrown out after he wouldn’t sell drugs, you found him and offered him a job here.” Nines replied, giving the short version. 

“Well this is the guy that gave him that scar that night.” Fowler replied simply, looking to see Tina returning from where he assumed Gavin was. 

“Then we need to stay on the case, you and I both know that in the long term, Gavin would be worse if he doesn’t complete this case, especially if the case goes unsolved.” 

Fowler thought for a second. “Fine, but keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t get in his head and the moment I think it’s too much, I’m pulling you both from the case.” 

“Understood, thank you.” Nines replied, moving to leave the room. “Enjoy your meeting.” 

__________

Nines moved outside to join Gavin, having been given the ok from Tina. Gavin was smoking, fidgeting with the cigarette between his two fingers. 

“I know what happened.” Nines spoke calmly as he sat down next top Gavin, giving him a little bit of space on the bench. “I know who he is and what he did.” 

“Tina spilt my secrets huh?” Gavin asked, putting his hand on the bench for Nines to take. His words weren’t angry, he had become better at that the last few months which Nines was grateful for. 

“No, Fowler, although it was less spilling secrets and more connecting dots.” Nines replied, taking Gavin’s hand and moving closer. “I knew that it was likely the name itself that bothered you as the convictions were not usual to see and this date is not near to any of significance, I just didn’t know why.” 

“Why am I not surprised that you keep track of ‘important dates’” Gavin replied, using mock quotation marks. 

“Well I need to know when you have a reason for being an asshole.” Nines replied to lighten the mood, causing Gavin to give him a quick middle finger. “Fowler tried to move us off the case...I made sure we stayed on, although I know you would of found a way to work on it even if we were taken off.”

“You got me there, Tin Can.” Gavin replied, pulling Nines into a soft kiss “Let’s get this over with huh?” 

_______

It took them a few hours to find a good lead. A warehouse a few blocks away had suspicious activity and was well within the usual area the suspect worked. The ride up was tense, Gavin and Nines took one car with Chris and Tina taking another to the back entrance. Tina stayed in the car, keeping an eye on camera’s and ready to call backup at any sign of trouble. 

“Are you sure you want to do this? Chris and I can handle it ourselves.” Nines asked as the two left the car and stood looking at the warehouse in front of them.

“No, I know their tricks, you need me.” Gavin replied, looking up at the building in front of them and pausing for a second “And I need this.” He added. 

Nines nodded, taking Gavin’s hand “We will do this together, I’ll protect you.” 

“You always do, what’s one lousy old drug dealer against my terminator huh?” Gavin replied, giving Nines hand a small squeeze before walking towards the warehouse. Nines entered first, looking around the seemingly empty room. They we’re in the right place, red ice covered the table with a few android parts dotted between the crystals. As they guessed, the suspect had gone from simply selling to having a role in creation, seemingly rising through the ranks. 

“All clear.” Chris called over coms, appearing at the other side of the warehouse, lowering his gun. Nines nodded, moving forward and scanning the table, his LED turning yellow for a second. The components matched the victims...that was something. 

“Nines watch out!” Chris called from across the room, causing Nines to pull out of his scan just as he was pinned down by the suspect. Nines fought back, quickly pushing the man off and dodging the next hit, reaching for something on the table, which turned out to be an arm, using it to hit the man who fell to the floor. 

Nines looked around, running quickly to help Gavin who was hit by man who hadn’t even appeared in the investigation. He threw the man off Gavin and threw him to the side, fending off another man. He looked over to the other side of the room where Tina had just entered to help Chris fend off the two guys on their side of the room. 

“We need to leave, now.” Gavin called, standing back to back with Nines as they fought another two men. They used this break to run, Gavin pulling Nines towards the back door which had been left open. This was bigger than they expected, and they couldn’t hold them off until backup arrived. 

The group moved outside to find themselves surrounded by other members of this organisation. In front of them, the main suspect appeared, holding the back of his head from Nines counterattack. 

“Funny how you returned, little G.” The man smirked, looking directly at Gavin who was standing close to Nines. Nines automatically moved in front of Gavin, causing the man to laugh “And you’re little machine bodyguard huh?” The man looked towards Nines, moving closer to the pair.

“I’m not his bodyguard, or a machine.” Nines replied simply, looking the man in his eyes “You won’t hurt him again.” 

The man laughed, signalling his hand quickly, causing a gunshot to ring out. Nines looked over at Gavin, who was looking at him with a shocked expression. Nines followed his gaze down, placing his hand on his shoulder which was now covered in blue blood. 

“See, I have no problem shooting your android friend here, or the others for that matter. You left, little G, I got better. I did all this and where did you go? You became a detective huh? Got stuck with a little android buddy,” The man rolled his eyes, making another gesture as another bullet hit Nines in the leg, causing him to fall to the floor. “Not for long”

“Stop! What do you want?” Gavin dropped quickly to his knees, pulling Nines close as he pressed against his side. “Don’t hurt him again.” Gavin looked up at the man, refusing to let himself show fear. He was terrified, terrified of the man in front of him, terrified of losing Nines, terrified of someone else getting hurt. 

“You. We have unfinished business. You ratted us out, it was good, I got friends in prison...but I still hated ever second of it.” The man replied “You come, and we’ll let your friends go.” 

“Fine.” Gavin replied without hesitation, looking towards Nines and gently pulling him in for a kiss. 

“Gavin...please.” Nines mumbled, pulling him closer to try and stop Gavin from leaving but Gavin pushed him off. 

“Sorry Tin Can, my turn to save you.” Gavin replied, getting up and allowing himself to be taken away. Tina was struggling to get to Gavin, being held back by two men as Chris looked over in unmoving shock. Tina was freed once the car was in the distance and the three were left alone as sirens blared in the distance. 

___

Gavin sat in the back of the car, blindfolded. He tried to get some sense of where he was, in case he was given any sort of contact with Nines but they seemed to be doing all kinds of circles and loops, maybe to stop both him and others tracking them. They arrived after which seemed like hours but was probably less. 

Gavin was thrown into an all familiar room. He knew where this was, although the room was changed and there was an extra layer of dust. His old room, he remembered many sleepless nights here, many horrible memories with a few good ones scattered within. The good ones somehow made the bad worse. 

“You remember here then?” The man asked, sitting on the bed with a sadistic smile. “So many memories' huh.”

“Yeah, wish I could forget them.” Gavin replied simply, looking up at him. 

The man moved to sit in front of Gavin “See, that month of yours got you in trouble.” He punched Gavin, causing him to bash into the wall behind “We’re just getting started.” 

For hours, or at least what seemed like hours, Gavin was trapped. The man would come in for a while, teasing, bringing up memories, punches and kicks. Then leave him alone with his thoughts. Sometimes other old faces appeared, although not many. Apparently some took after Gavin, made themselves clean, others left to join other gangs. Only a few of the original crew stuck around. 

One brought Gavin water. It was a refreshing change and Gavin appreciated. The boy, well man now, was around Gavin’s age, he was quieter than Gavin. He did what he was told, never got into trouble but was kind. Gavin guessed that moved on to his adult years, probably the reason he never left. 

  
  


Eventually, the man returned with a different expression, sitting on the bed once more. “We’ve got a big shipment coming in of android parts, those Androids killed were just to keep us going little G.” He twisted a knife in his hand, cutting the ropes Gavin was held by. “That means we need to cut this a little short... How about we end this how it should of ended years ago.” 

The man picked Gavin’s phone up which lay on the side and smashed it to the floor, kicking the pieces for good luck. “Can’t have your friends ruining this, can we.” He added, picking Gavin up roughly and moving through the house to a back alley, calling his men as he went. Gavin was thrown to the ground, suddenly feeling like a helpless kid all over again as the men stood in front of him. They began to kick and hit, covering all sides of him in bruises and scars. Some used knives that cut roughly into his skin, most used their hands, one used a gun. He couldn’t tell who was who, he couldn’t see anything at all. They left. 

He was left alone. 

Hurt, bleeding on the floor. He began to shiver. Was it cold? He couldn’t tell. The past and the present shifted together as Gavin huddled until the sky. It was all his worst dreams together, almost loosing Nines, being back at the house, being in an alley. Dying alone. He held his side, trying to use the wall to push himself up, but he instantly fell to the ground again. It was no use, he couldn’t move. This time was different...he had somewhere to go, someone to go to...and yet? He couldn’t get there, he couldn’t move. 

He looked up at the sky, at the stars. They were beautiful, as always, even if they were covered by the fumes of the city. They weren’t the worst image to die too. Gavin always knew he wouldn’t live to old age, never had a reason too before now. He did now, Nines. He wanted to grow old with him, in whatever way an android could. Hell, he would stop smoking, although the damage was probably already done. He couldn’t help his job, that got him into this mess today. 

He thought back to what he could change. The times he was goddamn awful to Nines, the petty arguments ingrained into his brain. It was no use looking back, Gavin realised that but what else could he do? The present was an awful mix of pain and fear, the future wasn’t clear, he may not even have one. One thing he wouldn’t change? His choice. He would do it 100 times if it meant Nines was safe, he didn’t know what he would do if he didn’t. 

He was ok with that choice. He had peace with it, the only thing he could make peace with. He always feared he would die alone and here he was in a forgotten alley in a forgotten part of town. Forgotten. 

“Gavin!” Nines called out, running quickly to his side and scanning him as Nines LED turned red. 

“You came.” Gavin looked up at Nines, tracing the side of his face.

“Always Gavin.” Nines replied softly, taking Gavin’s hand. “Now stay awake ok?” 

“I’m trying.” Gavin mumbled, hearing sirens in the distance. “You ok?” 

“Don’t worry about me, Gavin.” Nines replied with a small smile. “I’m a terminator, remember?” 

“Yeah, my terminator.” Gavin added, before leaning against the alleyway as the world slowly became black. 

____

“Did you get him?” Gavin asked quietly as he opened his eyes to a slightly blinding light. He looked over to see Nines who was resting in the chair next to him, leaning on the bed, holding Gavin’s hand. Gavin guessed he was either deep in whatever his mind palace was or he was in stasis. 

“Nines got him.” Tina replied to Gavin’s question from the doorway, looking towards Nines. “Had to make sure he didn’t beat the guy too badly.” Tina added as Nines began to the wake. “I’ll get some coffee.” 

“Hey Tin Can.” Gavin spoke as Nines shot upwards, looking over with relief at Gavin. 

“You’re awake.” Nines observed leaning forward to get closer to him. “You were out for three days…”

“Best sleep I’ve had in years.” Gavin replied, causing a slight glare from Nines which quickly softened. 

“I’m glad you’re ok.”

“Me too Tin Can, me too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This may have taken me over two hours and it's now technically 1am but its still the 27th somewhere so... Anyway if there's a lot of mistakes that's why, I tried to clear it up as much as possible! Thanks for reading and as always feedback is appreciated.


End file.
